Laser machining has been used in the automobile, aerospace, and electronics industries. For example, lasers are used in sheet metal cutting, drilling, and milling. In microelectronics, lasers are employed to scribe wafers, trim passive film elements, and obtain alloy p-n junctions of semiconductors. The advancements in laser machining are mainly due to the possibility of making small and unique structures that are difficult to achieve with conventional methods, and its applicability to traditionally hard-to-work materials such as ceramics, glass, and composite materials. Laser drilling has been widely used in industry because of its high production rate, capacity for rapidly varying hole size, for drilling holes at shallow angles, and for drilling traditionally hard-to-work materials such as ceramics and composite materials.
Despite the advancements made in laser machining, there is a need in the art for improved laser-based machining systems and methods of using the same.